Gold flat, investors brace for Fed minutes
JOHANNESBURG - Gold prices were flat on Wednesday, as investors held back from making big bets ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting minutes, which could offer clues on further interest rate hikes.
Spot gold was flat at US$1 740.23 per ounce by 3.06am GMT. US gold futures were also unchanged at US$1 740.50.
“There is some nervousness in the market ahead of the Fed minutes,” said Edward Meir, an analyst with ED&F Man Capital Markets.
The minutes of Fed’s November 1-2 policy meeting are due at 19pm GMT. US durable goods data and weekly initial jobless claims are also on the radar.
At the beginning of this month, the US Central Bank delivered a fourth consecutive 75-basis-point (bps) rate hike to tame inflation in what has become the fastest tightening of monetary policy in by 4.3 per cent
Rising costs, including for handsets, hit Telkom’s margins, including energy costs due to intensive load shedding during the period.
In addition, constrained consumer spending as a result of rising interest rates, increasing electricity and fuel
The US central bank may raise interest rates to a higher level and hold them there for longer to bring down high INflATION.
40 years. The Fed may need to raise interest rates to a higher level and hold them there for longer to successfully moderate consumer demand and bring down high inflation, Kansas City Fed President
Esther George said on Tuesday.
Expect
Though gold is seen as a hedge against inflation, rising US interest rates dull non-yielding bullion’s appeal.“In the near term, expect gold prices to work a bit higher from here into year-end, because I see the dollar weakening some more and we are very close to peaking out on inflation and interest rates,” Meir said. Fed fund futures are now pricing in a 79 per cent chance of 50 bps hike in the December meeting.Gold may bounce into a range of US$1 751-US$1 756 per ounce, before falling again, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. Spot silver was little changed at US$21.07 per ounce, while platinum and palladium were flat at US$990.70 and US$1 860.89, respectively. prices, a sluggish economy and high unemployment also contributed to lower earnings.
“As competition intensified in the mobile sector, we continued to innovate to protect Telkom’s value proposition in the market.
We continued to pursue our migration strategy and managed the transition further from old to new technologies.
However, this migration impacted our revenue growth and overall profitability,” Telkom said in a market update.
Increases
“Given the material increases in the cost of sales for Telkom Mobile, the accelerated decline of the legacy business at Openserve, BCX and Consumer, plus the impact of load shedding, we are revising our guidance to the market. In the medium-term, we expect revenue and EBITDA to grow at low to mid-single digit percentages,” said Telkom.
Management is currently exploring various options of realising the value of the mast and towers business. Telkom also announced the resignation of Sello Moloko as Chairperson at the end of March 2023.